Nandi Hills and Church Schisms

What has Nandi Hills got to do with Church Schisms? Nothing at all, excepting that as a group, from the ‘Christian Fellowship,’ we went on a day’s picnic to Nandi Hills on 21^st May, 2017, and amidst the worship songs with guitar and mouthorgan as accompaniments, we also considered ‘Divisions in the church,’ a topic selected by the Group Administrator.

It fell to my part to introduce the topic and lead the discussions among the participants. As a background to the topic I brought in the major schisms in the church that had happened from the beginnings of the church history.

Divisions in the church is not a recent phenomenon. It is a malady plaguing the church since the very beginnings. Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 addresses such a situation in the early church at Corinth. He writes, “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

The Corinthian church was split along the leaders; one said he follows Paul, another Apollos and yet another Cephas. Paul questions them, “Is Christ divided?’ These cracks in the edifice of the church appeared within 30 years of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for Paul had written this letter by 55 AD, near the end of his third missionary journey.

In Ephesians 4:3-6, Paul exhorts people saying, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope – one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…”

It is interesting to see what Jesus taught about this unity. In his intercessory prayer reported in John 17, he prays in verse 21, “that all of them be one, Father just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

In the church history, we see that in the first three centuries Christianity was a persecuted religion, comprising mostly of the poor people, the marginalized and the outcastes and the slaves. The situation changed dramatically when the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, became a Christian in 312 AD. The persecuted religion became the State Religion.

Unfortunately, the worldly accompaniments of power and position came to be bestowed on the church leaders, called the Bishops, with the bishop of Rome becoming prominent among them, later to be called the Pope.

Constantine, divided his huge empire into two in 330 AD, the Western Roman Empire with Rome as the capitol and the Eastern Empire, the Byzantine Empire with Constantinople as the capitol.

Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD, with the attack of Germanic tribes. Pope of Rome became prominent and occupied the vacuum left by the Emperor and became the spiritual sovereign. The Eastern Empire would last another 1000 years before it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD.

Differences have been brewing up between the Pope and the Patriarchs. There were five Patriarchs, one each in charge of churches in and around Rome, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Antioch. Due to historical and political reasons Patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople became stronger and more prominent. 

Patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople ex-communicated each other and a major split occurred in the church in 1054 AD, known as the Great Schism or the East West Schism. The Western church remained the Catholic (catholic meaning, all comprehensive) church and the Eastern church became the Orthodox or Greek Orthodox church.

Pope became the leader of the Western church and the Eastern church was run by a group of Patriarchs; West practiced Latin liturgy, while the Eastern church continued Greek liturgy. Rapprochement between the two occurred only in 1965, when both lifted the ex-communication orders issued in 1054 AD!

The second major split happened in the 16^th century, with Martin Luther starting the Reformation movement by nailing his 95 theses to his church door in Germany on 31 October 1517. He had raised objections to many of the practices of the Roman Catholic church, like the sale of indulgences.

Reformation led to counter-reformation and a long-drawn war which devastated Europe, ending only with the signing of Peace of Westphalia in 1648. But the Western church has irrevocably divided into the Catholic church under the Pope and Protestant churches.  

Protestant churches branched off into many, but all based on five major principles, that salvation is through, (1). Sola Fida – by faith alone; (2). Sola Scriptura – by Scripture alone; (3). Solus Christus – through Christ alone; (4). Sola Gratia – by grace alone and (5). Soli Deo Gloria – glory to God alone.

Protestant churches came to be known by the leaders, just what Paul warned us against! Followers of Martin Luther became Lutherans, John Knox’s followers became Presbyterians, John Wesley’s followers the Methodists, John Smith’s followers Baptist and so on.

In the beginnings of the 20^th century came the Pentecostal movement with the out pouring of the Holy Spirit in a big way and churches like the Assembly of God church started in 1901-1914. They remained within Protestant group of churches.

In the 20^th century another movement started to unite all the churches of the world under one umbrella, without any denominations. The Modern Ecumenical movement started in the World Missionary Conference in 1910 at Edinburgh and culminated in the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1948.

But did this movement really unite all the churches? Not really. If so, what are the repercussions of being a divided church? Or can we call it as unity in diversity?

Our group further discussed, what are the reasons for such divisions in the churches? People felt that mutual jealousies, selfish ambitions, doctrinal differences, difference in traditions, and not in the least, the confusion caused by Satan to be the reasons for such divisions.  

Are such divisions good or bad? If good, how and why? If bad, what can be done about it? Many felt that such divisions are good, because the Word of God penetrates the corners of the world, even remotest places, for as long as the name of Jesus Christ is glorified, it should be sufficient. Some felt divisions show Christianity in poor light.

So, what can be done about that? May be while not encouraging further divisions, churches could arrive at a workable guideline for unity, especially as all true Christians worship Christ alone and look to the Bible as the Word of God, and a standard, and depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The other differences could be mulled over.

More combined Bible studies, sharing of spiritual experiences, joint praise and worship sessions, cooperation in the social service activities and a constant dialogue between the various churches could definitely help bridge the gap.

As we await the Second Coming of Christ, in this confused and violent world of ours, including our divided churches, I can only say “Come, Lord Jesus,” as said by John in answer to the proclamation of Christ, “Yes, I am coming soon,” as John would write and conclude his book on Revelation in the Bible, which forms the very last sentence of the Bible.

Yes, Lord, come soon and save us all from the clayey mire.

Amen.